Politics

On Friday and Saturday, November 15-16, 2013, The Pinal County Democratic Party will host the Arizona Democratic Party’s quarterly State Committee meeting in Maricopa, AZ at the Maricopa High School. As a part of the weekend activities, The Pinal County Democrats will also be holding a fund raising activity saluting “Women Who Rock”.

Last week, our government proved without a doubt that it is dysfunctional. When few disgruntled legislators can strike fear in the hearts of their own colleagues, we are rapidly moving towards anarchy. When George H. W. Bush banded together a coalition of the willing to stand up to Iraq when they attacked Kuwait, his argument was, we must respect and follow the “Rule of Law”.  

U.S. Congressman Paul Gosar, D.D.S (AZ-04) issued the following statement after the House of Representatives voted again to avoid a government shutdown, delay the Obamacare individual mandate, and promote fairness by repealing the Obamacare subsidy for Members of Congress and the President: 

Sen. John McCain said that "I have not seen" anything like the gridlock that now has left the country facing a federal shutdown by Tuesday. (Source: CBS) Staring at the specter of a partial government shutdown, Sen. John McCain says he's never seen anything like the harsh partisanship pervading much of Washington politics. The Arizona Republican,...

An election law change that raised Arizona's campaign contribution limits also provided candidates with an unwanted and apparently unintended surprise. According to the Arizona Capitol Times, that surprise is a new requirement that candidates have separate campaign finance committees for the primary and general election elections.

The Republican-controlled Arizona Legislature wants a federal court to immediately block use of congressional district maps created by the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission. The Legislature led by Senate President Andy Biggs and House Speaker Andy Tobin sued in June 2012. Their lawyers asked for a preliminary injunction in a filing Friday.

On July 17th, 2013, I issued a call to arms for Pinal County to support the petition drive to place HB2305 on the 2014 ballot. Well today we learned that approximately 146,000 signatures were submitted to the Secretary of State to 1) stop this odious bill from being enacted and 2) placing the bill on the ballot for the people to defeat next November. When petitions were passed out to the Pinal County Precinct Committeepersons, they did not hesitate to take on the challenge of knocking on doors, setting up tables and having community gatherings to collect signatures. What seemed like a tremendous task upfront was quickly reduced to just business as usual for the volunteers. It also became very apparent that, We Are Not Alone!!!

Although ballot tabulations are not yet final, Republican candidates staged a near sweep of county and state offices in Pinal County last week, indicating the face of county politics has changed drastically in the last few years. For the first time, the Pinal County Board of Supervisors will be controlled by a Republican majority; four of five county supervisors winning seats on the newly expanded board in last week’s election are Republicans. 

Believing Arizona legislators have forsaken edu­cation, residents found success in placing a measure on the Nov. 6 general election ballot designed to address what they believe is inadequate school funding. Proposition 204 would renew the 2010 1-cent property tax, scheduled to expire next year, and provide protections against reducing education funding in the future. The additional revenue generated by the tax would fund educational programs in addition to pub­lic transportation infrastructure projects and human services. Other measure provisions include forbid­ding reduction to existing K-12 and university funding levels, and prohibiting reductions to the current state sales tax base.

Tuesday, Nov. 6, is the day of the general election that will decide the U.S. presidential race, the U.S. congressional races, state races, county races, and local races such as school district and fire district governing board seats.

The Pinal County Deputies Association was formed to assemble a coalition of Pinal County Sheriff's Office employees to promote the belief that Pinal County Sheriff’s Office employees have the same Constitutional rights as other citizens of the United States and residents of the State of Arizona; and that the Association will constantly protect these rights. They promote a positive image of the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office employees and will provide a powerful and respected voice for its members and educate the public about improved public safety and crime reduction.

  The seat for Pinal County attorney is being contested between incum­bent Democrat James Walsh and challenger Republican Lando Voyles. The county attorney’s office is tasked with prosecuting cases brought to it by the sheriff ’s office.   The office has about 150 people work­ing for it including more than 40 attorneys. Its annual budget is about $14 million. Mr. Walsh has a Bachelor of Arts de­gree from St. Louis University and a Ju­ris Doctorate from University of Chicago Law School.

Constable candidate must pay nearly $10K by Oct. 30 Ryan Sudrick, one of six write-in candidates for the Republican nomination for Apache Junction Justice Court constable race, and the Southwest Border Sheriffs, a political-action committee that supported him, have been fined thousands of dollars for campaign finance violations.

The San Tan Republican Club announces that national author and comedian Eric Golub will be the guest speaker at their Thursday October 18, 2012 meeting. Eric Golub is Brooklyn born, Long Island raised, and has lived in Los Angeles since 1990. He received his Bachelors degree from the University of Judaism, and his MBA from USC.

Candidates for the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, the Arizona Corporation Commission, the Arizona Legislature and Maricopa County are scheduled to attend SRP PIC’s 2012 Political Picnic, a non-partisan event that is one of the state’s largest election-year rallies.  The old-fashioned political rally offers members of the print and broadcast media and SRP employees the opportunity to interview at one location many of the candidates for the Nov. 6 general election.